The Melancholy of the Demon Army Officer
Translator: Tsukii
Editor: Geli
Read at Watashi wa Sugoi Desu!
Chapter 027 – Sacrifice [B]
—Really… things have developed beyond my control.
Leonhart sighed heavily as he returned to the encampment.
It wasn’t like he was physically tired. The war took a bigger toll on his mental state.
Just as the demon general said, Leonhart went to the enemy formation and killed as many commanders as he could.
He did it to reduce the casualties as much as possible… but the problem was that there were too many enemies there.
After all, it was a war between 2 large armies of 200,000 soldiers each. It was extremely unlikely for their enemy to reach the encampment with them just staying in camp, and it took far too much time for that. The more time they spent waiting, the greater the number of casualties there would be.
As such, he decided to personally take action.
He pierced through the enemy’s encampment alone, aiming for the enemy commander while moving to only kill the opponents who directly impeded his path to get there. Then he challenged them to a duel, cut off their head, and proceeded to scour the battlefield in search of the next target without any rest.
In the midst of this slaughter, he stopped keeping track of how many enemy commanders he cut down. He only guessed that there would be around 200 of them.
After he cut down that many commanders in a single week, half of the enemy forces turned into deserters and escaped.
However, even as their number was further reduced by another half this past week, there was still a considerable number of soldiers who remained to fight in the battlefield.
When he heard that, he had no choice but to give such a ruthless order.
He couldn’t minimize the number of the casualties anymore. Those soldiers might have a reason or the dignity to still fight in the battlefield even now despite the fact that the result was already clear. Also, he could tell from the battles he’s had up until now that their soldiers were well trained.
They would never deign to escape. If they did, their people would be overrun by the demons. They probably had people who were precious to them and would likely get hurt. He had failed to break their will to protect them.
…I guess I should switch gears.
As Leonhart tried to calm his agitated thoughts, he surveyed his surroundings. Currently, there were several demon generals and demon captains who weren’t in charge of the front line. Everyone was discussing future plans for the army’s advance and where they would make their base.
Then Leonhart noticed something. Now that I look around, there’s a certain person who’s missing.
“…By the way, where is Carol? I don’t see her around.”
“Carol-sama… now that you mention it, we haven’t seen her around.”
As he was asking the demon general aide, he also simultaneously realized by then that she was missing. After confirming that the demon general hasn’t seen her, he wordlessly asked the other demon generals about it through his gaze.
The demon generals there understood his intent and began to speak one after another.
“I think she was here until just now, but…”
“Didn’t she growl while looking at the map?”
“When I saw her, she seemed to be in agony as she called out Leonhart-sama’s name.”
They only gave Leonhart such vague information. He held his head as he thought about his apostle.
“What the hell is she doing…”
“Did you call for me—!! Leonhart-sama—!!”
“!”
Just then, he heard a high-pitched voice coming from the direction of the frontline. It was Carol’s voice.
The person who entered the main encampment after yelling such words was none other than the blond pigtailed apostle.
Her cheerful expression was turned toward him and she struck a pose.
“Leonhart-sama’s faithful servant and the most perfect apostle of the demon realm, Carol! I’ve procured information to help Leonhart-sama!!”
“…”
The atmosphere of the place suddenly froze. As the demon generals were rendered speechless, Leonhart somehow managed to suppress his embarrassment and asked Carol while sighing deeply.
“…There’re many things I want to ask, but let’s put that aside for now. What is this so-called useful information?”
“Yes! It was information on potential base spots for the Demon Army!”
“Information about the base… you say?”
“Yes!”
As Carol nodded at Leonhart’s question, she went to the center table and spread her map open.
“Our initial plan was to conquer the city ahead and use it as a base, but I found a more perfect place for that purpose nearby!”
As Carol spoke loudly, the demon generals grew interested in her findings and naturally drew closer to the center.
The first one who spoke was the demon general aide.
“…The initial place that we’d planned to use as a base is indeed quite far, but… there’s supposedly no city or settlement in this area that’s closer.”
The others agreed with the demon general’s opinion. They had already investigated beforehand and came to the conclusion that the nearest location where they could build a long term base was only in the city ahead.
And that was also the reason why Leonhart was forced to commit to a large-scale invasion. The Demon Army wished to build a base in this region.
In the first place, this specific territory of the nation was the very reason for the conflict.
The land was located in the center of the continent, which was an important transportation and military hub of the continent. Even the Demon Army would definitely have to pass through this land when they sent their soldiers across the battlefield or sent over their supplies.
There were not many problems in the southern region, but there was the Barao mountain region that split the eastern and northern regions of the continent. While it wasn’t impossible to pass through that region, it was greatly inconvenient.1
And the nation made use of their national power to integrate this important region into part of their territory. This had greatly angered the Demon Army.
They claimed that it was their right to monopolize such an important region despite being mere humans.
And they did it in a way that was practically stealing.
Even though they had overlooked them all this time, they became arrogant and did such a thing.
They needed to get it back.
Many demon generals had sent petitions to Leonhart. And the situation finally escalated to a level where he couldn’t ignore it anymore.
He tried to suppress such opinions at first. Fortunately, there was no city in this region despite it being claimed as that nation’s territory, and it wasn’t like there would be any damage if they passed through the region like before. Even that nation wouldn’t be stupid enough to send a complaint letter to the Demon Army for doing such a thing.
The reason why he couldn’t prevent it anymore was probably due to the battle that happened the other day.
This nation was also invaded regularly by the Demon Army like all the other areas, but because their high national power had allowed them to support powerful armies and strong troops, the Demon Army was unable to completely suppress them.
Since they managed to persist despite Leonhart’s participation, he thought that would be enough retribution and didn’t pursue the matter further, but… perhaps that was a bad move.
Of all the things they could have done, they chose to attack a Demon Army encampment north of here and decimated everything there.
Perhaps it was due to the enemy being stronger than they expected, or maybe due to the fact that no majin was stationed there. Anyway, this event made the Demon Army furious.
In the end, he had no choice but to command such a thing. Even so, Leonhart didn’t have any plans to destroy said nation; he only thought to make a base in this region, station some soldiers there, and withdraw. The enemy’s fighting power had already decreased to some extent, and because of that, they wouldn’t be as reckless anymore. After that, he could just implement the same policy at the base that was built.
Leonhart pondered more on that and frowned. The demon generals only suggested making a base in this region, but these ideas were passed through Carol, his apostle.
The purpose was to minimize the casualties as they executed the operation. If they made the city into a base, there would be civilian casualties, but the number could be reduced by refraining from unnecessary murder and only allowing the army to loot and assault like they did in the other regions. This was the only thing he could do on the side of the Demon Army to ensure humanity wouldn’t get completely wiped out.
But it seemed that she’d found a location that would allow them to further reduce casualties.
Carol began to proudly speak as the demon generals paid attention to her.
“Fufun, there is such a place. I’ve confirmed the information on the city, so I’m sure of it.”
“…Wait, city you say? Did you go to a city?”
Leonhart asked again since he heard something that he couldn’t overlook.
Carol proudly replied to his question.
“Yes! My appearance isn’t much different from that of a human, so I went ahead and infiltrated it!”
“…So you asked for that information from the locals?”
“That’s right, Leonhart-sama!”
Leonhart was amazed by her ability to take action. What a reckless intelligence officer. What would she have done if she were caught? In the first place, there were lots of things he wanted to say about her excessive autonomy, but he swallowed his words this one time. He could always pass judgment after he heard her results. If she brought back bad results, then he could just punish her later once they got home.
“And…where is this place?”
“Yes! It’s right here!”
Carol explained as she pointed at the map.
“There’s a small village here! The population here is small, and most of its inhabitants make their living by selling their crops to the city!”
“…I see.”
Leonhart reacted to her explanation. Of course, he didn’t let his words and expressions show it.
That location was indeed more convenient than the city, and it had a lower population on top of that. If he made this village as their base, the casualties would be lower than that of the city’s and there would be less resistance. It was also good that it was quite a distance away from the city. If they were closer, then there would be frequent skirmishes if they turned it into a base later, which would then increase the number of casualties.
The more he thought of it, the more convenient the location seemed to be. Although the demon generals weren’t really concerned about the casualties, they would consider that the location was more strategic than the city.
However, they might still push for the city since there would be more enjoyment for them if they thought about it more carefully. Therefore, Leonhart opened his mouth to declare his decision while they were still on this topic.
“…Carol, demon general.”
“Yes!”
“Hah.”
Leonhart gave his order at his loyal retainers’ reply.
“We’re changing plans. Once the battle is over, we’ll head to this village.”
“Certainly!”
“…As you will it.”
“Hah! I understand!”
The other demon generals followed the two’s response and agreed.
As they began to move out to accomplish Leonhart’s order, he looked at that point of the map, specifically on the place where the village was located.
Then he said with a low tone that nobody else could hear,
“…Don’t think too badly of me.”
He spoke a single apology toward the villagers who he did not even know.
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